burning sand.'"

"Ashtavakra said, 'O blessed lady, I never approach one that is another's
spouse. One's congress with another man's wife is condemned by persons
conversant with the scriptures on morality. I am an utter stranger to
enjoyments of every kind. O blessed lady, know that I have become
desirous of wedlock for obtaining offspring. I swear by truth itself.
Through the aid of offspring righteously obtained, I shall proceed to
those regions of felicity which cannot be attained without such aid. O
good lady, know what is consistent with morality, and knowing it, desist
from thy efforts.'"

"The lady said, 'The very deities of wind and fire and water, or the
other celestials, O regenerate one, are not so agreeable to women as the
deity of desire. Verily, women are exceedingly fond of sexual congress.
Among a thousand women, or, perhaps, among hundreds of thousands,
sometimes only one may be found that is devoted to her husband. When
under the influence of desire, they care not for family or father or
mother or brother or husband or sons or husband's brother (but pursue the
way that desire points out). Verily, in pursuit of what they consider
happiness, they destroy the family (to which they belong by birth or
marriage) even as many queenly rivers eat away the banks that contain
them. The Creator himself had said this, quickly marking the faults of
women.'"[196]

"Bhishma continued, 'The Rishi, bent upon finding out the faults of
women, then addressed that lady, saying,--Cease to speak to me in this
strain. Yearning springs from liking. Tell me what (else) I am to
do.[197]--That lady then said in return,--O illustrious one, thou shalt
see according to time and place (as do whether I have anything agreeable